Travel grants take graduate students around the globe

Joseph Belkin will study the neurobiology of sexual competition among Australian fairy-wrens. Minqui Chai will look at opposition to Chinese investments in Southeast Asia.

Ethan Denger will explore the relationship between mosquitoes and poverty in Colombia, while Guarev Inder Singh Toor will look at attempts to ease ethnic tensions in Kenya.

They are among 98 Cornell graduate and professional students who will travel to 47 countries over the next year with support from the Einaudi Center's International Travel Grant Program.

The grants provide travel money for students conducting short-term research or fieldwork or engaging in other academic activities outside the United States.

Many research topics deal with contemporary issues (climate change, urbanization, malnutrition) while others probe history, art, or music theory.

For a complete list of the awardees, as well as brief descriptions of their projects, please click here.

The 2017-18 grants range from $450 to $2,100, with an average award of just over $1,000. The leading destination is India, with 11, followed by China and Germany with six each.

Twelve of the countries – Bangladesh, Colombia, Israel, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Turkey – are under U.S. Department of State Travel Warnings. Students traveling to those countries will be provided with specific information on how to proceed per university policy.